Sunday, July 24, 2016

New Flix: Midnight Special (2016)

After a sudden ad blitz that sold it as the greatest Film of the Year, I...didn't see it until now. Did I wait too long?

The Movie opens cold with a dry news read of the basic Plot set-up: a kid has been stolen from his Parents by stranger (Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton).

Said kid has something special about him...

The Government have been investigating some weird events with a Cult-like Ranch and send in...Kylo Ren?

The Ranch Members say some mysterious stuff about the boy, while the Government has some mumbo-jumbo about him hacking into satellite information...or something.

What is so special about this boy and why does he wear the same goggles that I did in the Pool as a kid?

Will the Government catch him? What is the secret? Why does Kylo Ren look nervous flying in a Chopper when he has a Space Ship?

To find out the answers to (most of) those questions, watch the Film.

I like a good mystery. Watching the original Trailers for this, I certainly had many questions. For one thing, why was it so obsessed with telling me that it was by Jeff Nichols? If it was Scorsese or Francis Ford Coppola, I'd get it. To be fair, Nichols did make Mud and Take Shelter- the latter of which I've actually seen. I guess I just didn't (and don't) think that his name is/was quite synonymous with great Films to *most* people that it warranted the ad regalia. This was after Triple 9, which every Trailer told me was 'an instant Classic,' 'great' and 'Better than the return of Jesus.' I may have made up one of those. So how is the actual Film? It's good. The Film has some real mystery throughout, has some nice twists and does build up to something notable. It is much more of an overt Film than Take Shelter (also with Shannon), which is generally a plus. I liked the Acting overall, although Kirsten Dunst was a bit too mopey for me. My big issue- which isn't that big, really- is that the Film plays a bit over dramatic. It is a dramatic Film, so maybe tone it down a little. It is only really that notable since the Film likes to be low-key for half of the time and over dramatic the other half. It works sometimes, but not always. Still a good Film, so no real serious complaints...even if they did put Nancy Grace in it...

Good Film overall, if a bit over dramatic for me at times. When your Film has good Drama, you don't need to score it *quite so* over-the-top.